


A Serpent’s Touch

by LadySaurus



Category: Naruto
Genre: Betrayal, Dark, Erotica, Experiment, F/M, Fanfiction, Manipulation, PowerGain, Serpent, Shinobi, Violence, psychotic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26927503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySaurus/pseuds/LadySaurus
Summary: Ahri was nothing special, just a poor girl living in an insignificant village. Everything changed the day her father was murdered and she woke up in a dark cell. Planning her escape she comes face to face with her captor, the Legendary Sannin and criminal Orochimaru. Looking into his eyes she had to make a decision; fight to the death to escape, or succumb to his to touch.
Relationships: Orochimaru (Naruto) & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

All she knew was darkness. How long was she encumbered with this darkness? She couldn’t answer that, but she knew it was awhile. Days? Weeks? Months? She had no way of telling time trapped in this dark room. If you could even call it a room, considering the ground was rough and the air smelled of wet stone. She had the sinking feeling she was in some type of dungeon.   
Her memory was cloudy, only remembering bits and pieces of the events that led up to her being here. The only time she saw light was when a white haired shinobi with round glasses and a taunting glare brought her food three times a day. He never said a word to her, never reacted to her angry insults, he just grinned and continued on his way. Then she started paying attention to her surroundings when she’d see the faint glow of the torch, signaling it was mealtime. All she could see was a poorly carved tunnel and metal bars embedded in the rock from floor to ceiling. There was no indication of any other doors or markings she recognized.  
She sighed in frustration, who was he? More importantly what did he want from her? She held no value in the shinobi world, as she had no ninjutsu capabilities and lived in a poor village on the streets. She had been homeless since her father was murdered over a couple loaves of bread and a bag of rice. People were starving and fought each other for food. Everytime she tried to remember her kidnapping she'd get a sharp pain in her skull, leaving her breathless and writhing in agony. She awaited the next time he came back, she would use all her strength to fight back and attack him. She might die trying but she wasn’t going to stand being anyone's prisoner. She put her face in her hands and took a deep breath trying to contemplate how she was going to do this.

Kabuto sat at a long wooden table pouring over various scrolls of information, working on the most recent project assigned to him by Lord Orochimaru. With his medical ninjutsu skills he should be able to figure this out easily, but something about this wasn’t going as smoothly as he had planned. The door of the study swung open and a familiar voice brought his attention.

“What progress have you made while I was away?” asked Orochimaru in a raspy voice similar to the hissing of a snake. 

Looking up from over his glasses from the papers in front of him he sighed shaking his head in disappointment. 

“I thought as much.” Orochimaru sighed checking out the various liquids in different beakers he had set up. 

“How’s the girl?”

“In the holding cell, I was awaiting further instruction.” Kabuto said his attention divided, focused on the scrolls, the sound of a fist slammed on the table in front of him startled him from his studies, his eyes flew up to meet Orochimaru’s. His brown eyes were clouded with confusion seeing as the slits of his Lords snake eyes glowed a brilliant gold in anger.

With a slow hiss he whispered “Why couldn’t you just lock her in one of our many rooms, she is a guest.”

“I apologise, I assumed she was like the others.” Kabuto said confused at his angry outburst but Orochimaru was out of the room before he finished his sentence.

Orochimaru glided down the many halls, passing by door after door of the sleep quarters set up for his followers who were stationed at this location. For the past year he had been watching the girl, for reasons he couldn’t explain. His normal motivation to collect people with unique jutsu abilities was not the case with the petite girl. 

She was striking with a fierce and innocent beauty, he found himself going back to that village time and time again just to watch her. He didn’t make it back in enough time to spare her from the horrors of watching her father cut down in front of her. He didn’t know how long she’d been living on the streets when he returned, he just remembered a blinding rage seeing the cuts and bruises on her face.   
He had decided that night to collect her, he could provide her a better life than the one she was currently living. She was unconscious when he arrived with her and tasked Kabuto with taking care of things, but the idiot locked her away like a prisoner. Orochimaru sighed internally kicking himself, he wasn’t actually specific with his instructions when he brought her here he left again as soon as he returned. Kabuto's feelings were the least of his worries, last thing he needed was unauthorized experiments on her.

Ahri paced around her dark cell rehearsing the scenario in her head, when he opened the door she would slam the hot food in his face and shove him out of the way to make her escape. She replayed it over and over, her heart pounded in her chest and she felt close to hyperventilating.

“You can do this, you can do this.” she whispered to herself repeatitivly trying to calm her nerves but jumped when she heard the sound of the door at the end of the hall squeak open. 

She flattened herself against the wall preparing for her move. She heard the footsteps draw closer, and with each step her heart pounded in unison. The faint glow of the torch light coming towards her was eerie, she took a deep breath and counted to three bracing herself as the door to her cell creaked open.   
With a battle cry her eyes flew open and she rushed towards the man, before she made contact in a split second something wrapped around her neck and slammed her against the wall. That’s when Ahri realized this was a different man than before, his skin was as pale as the purest snow that capped the highest mountains. His hair was long and as black as the wings of a raven, and his eyes were entrancing. 

She could feel the chill of his hand around her neck, and that cold seemed to spread throughout her entire body, it took all of her self control not to shiver. Then it dawned on her who he was and his name reverberated in her mind.

“You…” was all she managed to stutter as she began trembling, and she couldn’t differentiate if it was fear or the cool temperature of the room. She saw his lips slowly curl into a grin as he pressed himself against her ,his lips hovering over her ear whispering.

“Ahhh, so you have heard of me Ahri.” She felt his breath tickle her ear, how did he know her name? Everyone knew who he was, he was a Legendary Sannin and a psychopath. What reason would he have going after her, an insignificant village girl who didn’t even possess any jutsu.

“Yes…” was all she managed to say breathlessly, as she felt her head begin to spin as her heart raced anxiety setting in.

“Sssay it.” He hissed slowly,a mild forest scent enveloped her, she felt his hand loosen on her throat.

What was she doing? She didn’t have time to converse with this dangerous man. She knew she was no match for him, but she’d rather die trying to escape instead of hanging around to see what awful things he had planned for her. Taking an attack of opportunity, she swiftly punched him in the mouth. He stumbled back surprised, and she ran out the open door as fast as she could. 

She followed the distant glow in a hallway beyond the door he left open, seeing a soft orange glow of torches lining the wall. Every time she saw an opening in the hallways she turned. Everything looking the same, the walls were solid rock and several doors lined each hallway. She looked behind her over her shoulder to see if she was being followed while continuing to run. Turning to face forward she didn’t have time to stop and ran right into a tall shinobi with short dark hair, the force of his chest knocking her off her feet landing on the ground with a thud.   
She had never seen such intense hatred in a person's eyes before, and it was suffocating. He wore a high collared flak jacket with a purple obi around his waist similar to the one Orochimaru wore. She gulped noticeably, swearing under her breath. There was no way she was going to escape now. 

“A pet of yours?” The mystery man asked annoyed looking at the direction behind her, Ahri turned a look of horror enveloping her face as she saw him slowly approaching. 

“Ah Sasuke you’ve returned.” He grinned wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. For the time being he ignored her presence, but Ahri at this point was too scared to move. 

“Try to keep better control of your pets, this one here wrinkled my jacket.” He glared down at Ahri before walking away, she noticed a strange red and white symbol on the back of his jacket before he disappeared around another corner. 

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you.” Orochimaru announced by pulling her off the floor by her arm. She tried to wiggle out of his grip and he squeezed harder.

“You might as well just kill me now, because I’m not going to be compliant.” She spat struggling to pull away from him and he slid his fingers in her hair swiftly yanking her head back to look at him.

“I went through a lot of trouble bringing you here, it'll be a waste of my time to kill you so soon. I’m taking you to a more comfortable room, so quit fighting me you silly girl.” He said patronizingly stroking the side of her face with his thumb. She looked away from his violating gaze glaring at the wall. He took her silence as momentary compliance leading her towards the direction that scary Sasuke guy had gone. 

He made sure to keep his hand on the small of her back as he guided her, not wanting to make the same mistake twice. They walked for several minutes before he stopped before a door, pulling out a silver key he opened it ushering her inside. There was a large queen sized bed in the middle of the room neatly made. On a wall to the left was a writing desk in one corner and several bookshelves lined the rest of the wall. Matching end tables sat on either side of the bed, and several candles lit the room. 

“This is my room?” She was surprised at how comfortable it looked. He looked into her big violet eyes, he didn’t understand why he felt such a strong need to take care of her.

“Actually these are my private chambers. I obviously have to keep a close eye on you. There’s a room to bath through that door.” He pointed in the corner opposite of the wall with the desk. “I will make sure clothes and food are brought to you. Don’t try anything stupid, or there will be consequences.” He threatened leaving the room swiftly. She heard an audible click, hearing him lock the door from the outside. 

“Escaping is going to be harder than I thought.” She growled, kicking the door angrily. Even if she was able to escape with her life, where would she go? She had no one, and he would just hunt her down anyways. Sighing in defeat she made her way to the bathing room, at least she could clean herself up and sleep in an actual bed tonight.


	2. Test Subject: Hell Flower

Orochimaru made his way to his test chambers with purpose, where he last saw Kabuto. He couldn't let the others see he had any ulterior motives for this woman besides using her as a test subject, he lost his composure earlier with his angry outburst. The smell of ink tickled his nose as he entered, Kabuto sighing frustrated once again rummaging through a stack of scrolls.

"There's something important we're missing, and I have a sinking suspicion it's so obvious and it's driving me mad." He said as Orochimaru walked into his line of sight.

"We knew the challenges when I assigned you to this project. For now, I need you to do me a favor, go and grab some clothes and food for the girl, give your mind a break." Kabuto looked up at him from over his round glasses pensively, but decided not to argue with him about her again. 

"Of course my Lord. Which one of the rooms is she in?" He placed the scrolls in a specific order so he could resume his work later.

"Mine." Orochimaru said nonchalantly using a dropper to extract neon green liquid from one beaker , squeezing four drops into a small dish that contained a piece of human flesh. When the liquid made contact it glowed a light blue similar to electricity, before it sizzled turning black as if it had been charred.

"Damn." Orochimaru swore, he was sure that one would have worked that time.

"Forgive me, My Lord, but why are you keeping a test subject in your room? This is unlike you." Kabuto asked him, observing his reaction to make sure he wasn't looking at an imposter. 

"Kabuto. I'm going to do things different this time around. Usually we force our experiments on our test subjects, but this time I'm going to attempt to gain her trust. If I can gain her trust and she agrees to willingly undergo these experiments, I would like to see if a willing subject makes a difference. Mental fortitude plays an important role in these situations as well." He lectured irked by his apprentice questioning his judgment.

"Really? And if it doesn't work?" 

"Then she will be treated like the others." Orochimaru shrugged, swirling pink liquids in a test tube inserting the sample in a rack next to several others. Kabuto seemed satisfied with that answer because without another word he walked away.

He had to be careful how he went about this, if people suspected he was pining after the small woman his reputation as a psychotic and emotionless mad scientist would be slandered. The that people feared him, the less interference he'd get with his experiments. There was nothing he loathed more than useless accomplices and any hindering of his experimental progress.   
Orochimaru became so engrossed in his work, he ignored the warning signs of his arm fatigue. A beaker full of freshly mixed materials slipped from his hands shattering to the floor, his arms falling limp at his sides. With a roar of outrage he kicked his foot out at a bookshelf next to him. Wood splintered and books toppled to the floor in all directions, he kept kicking at the broken shelf in frustration breaking it into smaller pieces. Ever since the Third Hokage used the Death Seal on him, his arms were paralyzed unable to use them for any kind of jutsu.   
For three years Kabuto tirelessly worked on him adamant to come up with a solution , the most they were able to do was give him limited mobility of his arms. A combination of acupuncture and chakra from Kabutos specialized ninjutsu, and they found a temporary solution.   
The solution was only temporary and had its limitations, they were unable to stimulate any chakra flow to his arms preventing him from actually performing any Justus requiring hand signs and chakra stimulation to perform them. The worst part? His arm mobility had a daily time limit, once his arms went back to a vegetative state he had to wait a minimum of twelve hours before Kabuto was able to perform the chakra acupuncture again.   
Orochimaru retreated to a large backed armchair by a roaring fire in the furthest corner of the room frustrated. Crossing his legs he glared down at the useless appendages. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, he laughed bitterly.

"The simple things in life I took for granted."

Ahri sat on the edge of the bed a warm towel wrapped tightly around her small damp form. With another towel she hand dried her plum colored hair. She grabbed an antique looking hair brush from off the dresser; it was silver with a coiled snake around the handle, the eyes of the snake held two small pieces of carved saffron zircon. The way the light reflected off the gemstones made her miss her mother. Her mother had a ring with the same colored stone. She had passed away when she was ten years old from an illness, due to the poverty of her village they didn't have access to any proper medical treatments. All they had was herbs of the land and prayer.   
She ran the brush through her long hair absent minded, her father worked so hard to provide a good life for her. He worked from sun up to late into the night just to earn enough to feed them. The conditions had slowly gotten worse over the last year and a half, unfortunately hunger drives people to desperation, which was the downfall of her father. He was murdered over food, Ahri had just turned nineteen two days prior. She was thrown out of her house by a group of men much stronger than her, so she lived in the streets for several months. 

“But how did I get here?” She whispered out loud to herself fingers smoothly and swiftly entwining a long braid down her back that stopped just above her butt. Ahri felt the familiar throbbing in her head as she struggled to remember the sequence of events leading up to her kidnapping.   
A loud knock at the door made her jump, making sure she was completely covered, the important parts were covered but the towel was short showing a majority of her thighs. She set the brush back where she found it, doing one more one over.  
“Come in.” She called out, the white haired man she was the most familiar with walked in with folded clothes in one hand and a tray of food in the other. 

“I was asked to bring these to you.” He said annoyed he was even here.

“Oh. Thank you, I suppose.” She nodded towards the desk to set the food down. He complied rolling his eyes. 

“Kabuto.” Was the last thing he said before locking her back in from the outside. Ahri’s stomach grumbled, the smell of miso teasing her nose. Ignoring the folded clothes on the bed, she all but ran to the desk. 

“Oh wow!” She exclaimed out loud looking down at the organized tray of food. She pulled herself into the desk with an excited giggle, she had never seen anything that looked this appetizing since her mother was alive.  
Two neatly rolled Onigiri sat next to each other like twin peak mountains, the nori a shining deep green uniformly wrapped on the bottom. In a black bowl next to it, tofu and green onions swam in a cloudy brown broth. She picked up the spoon swirling around the inside of the ball, watching a whirlpool of soupy deliciousness. This was lavish compared to the food Kabuto fed her for the past, however long she’s been here.  
The first swallow of soup made her pause, the broth warming her from the inside as it slid down her throat. The cubed pieces of tofu chewy and creamy, the green onion still held a slight crunchy texture. With her non dominant hand she grabbed a rice ball stuffing half of it in her mouth, she closed her eyes and smiled feeling the tangy barbecue drip down the corner of her mouth.   
Did they also kidnap a Chef to use in this underground labyrinth? She didn’t care, she devoured the food given to her. If the plate was edible, Ahri would have eaten that too. This beat stale bread and water any day. She piled the empty dishes neatly before grabbing the folded clothes off the bed, slipping on the white cotton pajama shorts and thin strapped tank top. She grabbed a book off one of the shelves, and retreated to the bed pulling back the blanket tucking herself in. The book was bound in old musky leather, the title engraved with gold ink over the etchings, Daija Matsuri: The Story of Kuro Hime. She took great care when flipping each page afraid it would crumble to dust in her hands.   
A tragic love story of Daija, a Great Serpent and a beautiful Maiden. The serpent traveled in the form of a handsome man every spring to see the cherry blossoms, when he saw Kuro. They became acquainted and soon fell in love. The Daija asked her father, the King, for her hand in marriage. When he discovered his true form the King refused sending the serpent away.   
The King would never wed his daughter to someone who was not human. Determined not to let his love go he returned each day, and each day he was turned away. The King finally agreed one day, if the serpent could keep up with him for seven laps around the castle on horseback he could wed his daughter. On the day of the ride, unbeknownst to the serpent, the King had laid swords in the grass. Unable to keep up on horseback, the young man transformed back into a serpent and was able to keep up.   
The swords shredded the body of the serpent, but his love for the Maiden was so great he pushed through the pain, when he completed the laps successfully he collapsed unconscious. When he woke up several days later he was filled with a blinding rage at being betrayed by the King. He returned home to summon all his family, servants and clan. They collectively summoned a rainstorm, the likes of which had never been seen before.   
The rain flooded the Kings land where it destroyed the whole village. No human or animal survived the raging flood, yet the castle remained unscathed. Seeing the destruction, Kuro thrust herself into the storm to stop the serpent. The current swept her away and she was never seen again. When Daija realized what happened he ended the storm, heartbroken and defeated he returned to his home.   
Ahri stroked the last page of the story as if to console the serpent. How lonely he must have been and how devastated he must be to lose the one he loved. Her mind wandered to the Legendary Sannin, was he just as lonely? She hugged the book against herself, his eyes while twisted held a twinge of sadness. What made him walk this path of darkness? The image of those golden snake eyes taunted her as she fell asleep.

Kabuto finished wrapping his Orochimaru’s arms in bandages before moving to clean up the shattered glass and chemicals off the stone floor. 

“Lord Orochimaru, should I prepare an exam room for your guest so we may begin the experiment soon?” He asked while he cleaned.

Orochimaru sat in the chair mulling over his question. He couldn’t let his emotions get in the way of his goal. He could start mildly and make sure to be present every moment, so he could intervene when necessary. Unlike the other test subjects, he would not be pleased with her death. 

“Yes, but like we discussed earlier, we’re doing things differently this time.” He answered sternly

“Of course my Lord.” Kabuto nodded helping him out of his chair, walking with him towards his room. Kabuto unlocked his door, peering in at the girl sleeping soundly in his bed clutching a book to her chest. Orochimaru noticed how vibrant her plum colored hair looked against the white bedding, she was as beautiful as the first day he ever saw her in her small village. 

“Kabuto, prepare the room. Tomorrow we’ll begin our study of Test Subject Hell Flower.”


	3. Hidden Chakra

Ahri’s eyes fluttered open, she stretched yawning. The sheets smelled so good, like pine trees after rainfall. She could fall back asleep, but she forced her eyes open just laying there another moment. Her mind now fully alert, realized the ‘pillow’ she laid her head on was steadily moving. Her eyes shifting upwards she realized she was snuggled up against Orochimaru laying on his chest.  
She shot up with a surprised gasp almost falling off the bed. His golden eyes twinkled with amusement as a slow grin spread across his face.   
“Be careful, you almost tumbled to the floor.” 

Ahri’s eyes narrowed, putting some space between them. 

“Don’t look so happy you snake! You have no business forcing me to lay against you while I slept!” She shouted at him angrily. 

Orochimaru erupted into a raspy fit of laughter and sat himself up leaning in close towards her faster than she was able to process.

“Look at my arms, they’re paralyzed. Have been since before I joined you last night to sleep. You are the one who rolled over in the night to lay on me invading MY personal space.” 

Ahri looked down at his arms seeing them bandaged and hanging at his sides unnaturally. Realizing he was right she looked back up at him with a look of horror on her face as it began to turn bright red. 

“Oh no!” She wailed covering her face in her hands. 

“Don’t be embarrassed, I found it endearing.” He leaned forward kissing her cheek. She peeked over at him from between her fingers, how could a ruthless killer be so easy going with her but terrifying to others. She couldn’t figure out what he wanted, but damn it she was going to find out.

“Why am I here?” She asked in a small shaking voice.

He looked at her for several moments, what was he supposed to say? He didn’t know what her reaction would be if he told her the truth, and he knew she was too perceptive to be fed a lie. He could force her to do whatever he wanted her to do because he had that power and she did not possess jutsu of any kind, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to gain her trust and have her come to him willingly. His attraction to her grew the more time he spent with her.

“Orochimaru?” 

“Okay. I’ll be completely honest with you, the reason I brought you here is because—“ A knock at the door interrupted him. Ahri got off the bed going to open the door and Orochimaru shook his head.

“No. Sit down.” He commanded more aggressively than he intended to. “Please.” He said more softly.

She nodded sitting back on the bed cross legged, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Enter.” Orochimaru barked sitting forward expectantly with one foot resting on the floor to keep his balance. 

The door swung open hitting the wall with a loud bang, as the familiar face of the not too much younger than her boy waltzed in arrogantly. His dark eyes scanned the room, his gaze hovering on her for just a moment. Ahri hugged herself feeling intimidated by that look, as young as he was she could feel his ruthlessness radiating off of him making her feel vulnerable.

“I see why you never showed up for our training, too busy housebreaking your new pet.” 

“Sasuke. I will see you out there in an hour.” Orochimaru reassured. Sasuke nodded leaving without another word. Orochimaru stood up and looked down at Ahri.

“Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s a moody teenager, but I did promise him we’d train today. Come with me, I’ll have Kabuto feed you.” Ahri followed him out the door, not too far down the hall was a large room adorned with a fireplace, large arm chair and bookshelves. On the opposite wall a desk and table with different glass containers filled with different colored liquids. 

Kabuto sat behind the desk writing something on a scroll, he glanced up noticing them walk in.

“You’re awake.” He nodded politely at Ahri and she waved back awkwardly. 

“Yes. I have to train with Sasuke shortly.” He said motioning to his arms. Kabuto stopped what he was doing and pulled a small bag out of the drawer of the desk. Ahri sat on the rug near the warm fire, she loved the smell of burning wood. 

Orochimaru sat in the large chair, his presence was commanding, his eyes never leaving her as Kabuto placed both of his arms on the sides on the chair. Kabuto removed the wrappings, his hand glowing a light green. He inserted small needles in different points of his arm, Orochimaru’s fingers starting to move as the muscles in his arm spasmed gradually getting feeling back. He repeated the process on the other arm, giving him back mobility in both.

“Why is it your arms could move yesterday, then this morning you couldn’t move them?” She asked curiously, remembering his hand wrapped around her throat. 

“It’s a long story, my arms are permanently this way until we can reverse the ailment. My mobility is limited, but thanks to my genius and Kabutos proficiency in medical-nin, I can at least have temporary movement each day.” He explained standing up walking over to her, he held out his hand. She took it, allowing him to pull her up off the floor, he slid his fingers up her arm, making her skin tingle, fixing the strap of her tank top that had fallen off her shoulder. 

“I’ll be back after a while. Kabuto will look after you.” He stated brushing her bottom lip with his thumb, the desire to kiss her was strong but he kept his composure. 

“Kabuto, make sure you feed her, then proceed on running the required tests and make a report I will review to decide how to proceed.” He commanded turning to leave. 

Alarm bells rang off in her head as panic started to set in.

“What tests?” She demanded a hint of hysteria in her tone. Orochimaru glanced over his shoulder, internally wincing at the fear in her eyes.

“We’ll discuss that later—“

Ahri wrapped her hand around his wrist, jerking him back towards her. “NO! It’s MY body! What tests?” She demanded again her tone laced with terror.

“Please just trust me.” He whispered, grabbing her face forcing her to look up at him. “Nothing he does is going to hurt you, you lived on the streets for who knows how long. He’s assessing your overall health.” It wasn’t completely a lie, but it wasn’t the entire truth either. 

“I don’t really have a choice in the matter do I?” She asked rhetorically.

“I’ll be back later.” He reassured, she jerked her face out of his hand going to sit in the armchair refusing to look at him, she could feel his burning gaze for several seconds before he left the room.

“I’ll be back with your food shortly, stay here and don’t get any ideas.” Kabuto warned, putting the small bag back into the drawer. He returned with a bowl and chopsticks handing it to her. 

“Thank you.” She whispered, taking it from him, it was a simple egg and rice dish. Ahri took her time eating trying to prolong having to get medically assessed, she didn’t trust them. She wanted to trust Orochimaru, but he still had been stalking her and kidnapped her. Whether it was with good intentions or not, she still had a right to have a say so in what happens in her life. 

“I am very busy, and don’t have time to play babysitter. Hurry and finish your food and quit stalling.” Kabuto said, annoyed.

“Stop talking to me like I’m a child.” Ahri snapped back, “I am a grown woman. Show some respect.” 

Kabuto looked over at her and she could see the muscles of his jaw clenching with annoyance or anger she couldn’t tell.

“Just hurry and finish. Lord Orochimaru won’t be pleased to hear you’re being disobedient.” He growled stalking closer to her getting an inch away from her ear. “I’m sure even you, in that shithole of a village you lived in has heard of the horrors he has caused, what makes you think he’d care what happens to a nobody like you?” 

Ahri froze mid bite, the rice on the chopsticks she held falling back into the bowl from her hand shaking. She ate at a more normal pace and placed the bowl on the desk Kabuto sat at.

“Follow me.” Was all he said leading the way out of the room. They walked for several minutes before reaching a room with large double doors. Upon entering the room, it was mostly dark, but glowed an eerie green. Large glass vats lined the walls on every side of the room. In the center vat at the far back of the room was a man who appeared to be the same age as her, with white hair. He looked at her curiously as they walked closer towards him, she could see a medical table with a reclining back directly in front of him.

“Who is that? Is he okay?” Ahri asked Kabuto,looking up at him and back to the man.

“That is none of your concern. Sit up here.” He gestured towards the table, she rolled her eyes following his orders. 

He pulled out a butterfly needle, a tourniquet, and several evacuated collection tubes. In one Swift moment he secured the tourniquet around her lower bicep tightly. With his medical-nin he guided the butterfly needle effortlessly into her vein filling several of the tubes up with blood before removing the needle healing the puncture.

He never once explained what he was doing the whole time, they sat there in uncomfortable silence. He did a full body examination, at one point she was forced to undress for a physical exam. She refused at first, he rudely, reassured her he had no sexual intent and she begrudgingly allowed him to proceed. Once he was done he filled out a form he had on a clipboard, then proceeded to check each vial of her blood, taking notes periodically.

Kabuto repeated the blood tests over the next several weeks, adding different solutions to different samples. Orochimaru continued to train with Sasuke during the day, and spent time with her at night. She accompanied him on a trip to Nanakusa Island, where they collected a large amount of medicinal herbs and jars of mud. Along their travels she learned the basics of how to combine the herbs to make salves, medicines and food pills. He gave Ahri the task of keeping inventory of their supply and keeping it replenished. Orochimaru was impressed with how easy it was for her to retain information.  
He told her about his parents; and how they left him orphaned at a young age when they died, he became a pupil of prodigy level under the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village. It was difficult seeing the pain and rage when he spoke about them. She could never repeat his actions, but she was sympathetic to his feelings and desire for revenge. She would love to get her hands on the people who killed her father and make them suffer the way she has, but if presented with the opportunity she wasn’t sure if she could take another person's life.   
Ahri no longer felt like a prisoner, but as his companion. On the last night before they were to return back to his hideout he surprised her with a night walk through a field of flowers, stems a reddish pink color with closed buds. They sat in the grass under a starlit sky. At around midnight when the full moon was at its highest, bathing them in a brilliant pale silver light the flowers began the bloom. Long white petals spiraled away from its tightly closed position spreading out, kissing the moonlight. She wished she could bottle the aroma of the flowers, so she could remember this night forever. 

“These are so beautiful, Orochimaru. Thank you for bringing me here.” She whispered laying her head on his shoulder, he leaned his head against hers.

“They only bloom once a year. At sunrise, when the sunlight hits them in the morning they’ll wither away, waiting to bloom again next year.” He explained, the feeling of her warm skin against his comforting. 

“How sad, I would love to see this every night if it were possible.” She whispered her eyes growing heavy, her exhaustion setting in.

“I know. But things in life happen the way they were meant to, even if it wasn’t what we expected or had planned.” She definitely wasn’t something he could even conjure in a dream, yet here she was leaning into him. He knew he was a monster, yet she never made him feel like one.

“Mhmm..” she responded, trying to force her eyes to stay open.

“Gekka Bijin, the most beautiful flower in the world, second to you.” He whispered, feeling her slow steady breathing. She had fallen soundly asleep on him. Her face looked so peaceful and innocent, how she could still smile after everything she’s been through was a mystery to him. Let anyone try to stand between them, or lay a hand on her, he would kill anyone with the intention to harm her.

Their trip was short lived, but she enjoyed every moment of it. She got right to work as soon as they returned, taking inventory of what was needed and then restocking the shelves. Kabuto had started warming up to her, not being as mean as in the beginning. He was very appreciative of her assistance, but he continued his study of her blood while she took over the other tasks. 

After all her work was done that day, she stayed in the room watching him curiously, not really understanding what the different colored reactions meant. She leaned against the metal table in case he needed another blood draw.

“Kabuto. Are you finished?” Orochimaru boomed as he entered the room startling her. Kabuto finished making his last couple notes and handed the report to him as he approached. 

Orochimaru spent the next several minutes scanning the documents.

“Are you positive? You double checked the sample?”

“Yes, several times, you can review it for yourself if you’d like.” Kabuto offered, pulling out a fresh Petri dish setting up the sample. Orochimaru looked into the microscope,

“Very curious.” He chuckled excitedly looking back at her, he knew there was more to her than what he thought and his intuition was hardly wrong. 

“What? Is there something wrong with me?” She asked not sure she wanted to know the answer to the question.

His excitement was overwhelming, she was a beautiful hidden gem and he had the privilege of finding her. Closing the distance between them, stalking towards her, she could feel the dangerous aura he emitted in pulsing waves with each step. Frozen in place, she gripped the medical table tightly, her stomach fluttered a mixture of fear and excitement and in one Swift movement he roughly lifted her up onto the table. Sliding his fingers up the nape of her neck, he grabbed a fistful of her hair yanking her head back crushing his lips against hers. She resisted at first, pressing against the wall of his chest in shock. His lips were soft, while his kiss was hard and demanding.   
Ahri melted against him, she had hoped he would kiss her, every time they went on a small trip, she yearned for him to. Every romantic mini adventure he took her on, everytime they woke up in the morning she wanted to be consumed by kisses. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him tighter against her. Her lips parted slightly to breathe, he took advantage of that opening sliding his tongue along her bottom lip and into her mouth. She moaned against his mouth, their tongues dancing. She was on fire, her blood sizzling with electricity that traveled to the junction between her thighs, pulsing. 

The clearing of a throat brought them back to reality, Orochimaru pulled away from her. She looked away from them, her mind lightheaded, a scarlet blush coloring her cheeks, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. 

“What now?” Kabuto asked, looking confused between the two of them. Orochimaru paused, for once not knowing what to do. Her blood held components he had never seen before, almost like microscopic pieces of crystallized chakra flowing through her veins. It wasn’t that she didn’t possess the ability to produce chakra to manipulate, there was something causing it to harden preventing her from being able to manipulate it. Who knows what kind of exciting jutsu she possessed. He could even enhance those abilities as well, and he could train her himself. 

“We’ll begin tomorrow. Ahri, come with me we need to discuss some things.” He urged, nodding she hopped off the table. Orochimaru wrapped his hand around her waist guiding her out. Once they got back to their room he locked the door, sitting in the bed. 

“Ahri, come here.” He ordered patting his lap, she complied walking over to him. His eyes raked over her body. She was short and curvy, the sway of her hips when she walked hypnotizing. Once close enough he grabbed her wrist yanking her to him. She fell in a heap on his lap laughing, he loved that sound. 

“I haven’t been completely honest with you.” He started, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. 

“I initially planned to bring you here to experiment on you, like I did with so many others. However, I couldn’t seem to bring myself to do it because I find myself growing fond of you.” 

Ahri looked up at him nodding “I assumed as much when I was brought here against my will.” 

“Of course, you’re not naive.” He relayed their findings to her, and explained all the possibilities he could unveil with some simple testing. 

“Are you sure?” She asked trying to hold back her excitement, all her life she had been jealous of those who could use jutsu while she couldn’t.

“Yes, what do you say? Do you trust me enough to unlock your untapped potential?” 

Ahri shifted in his lap straddling his waist, he wrapped his arms around her pulling her tightly against him.

“When I first got here I was terrified of everyone, especially you. Everything’s changed so drastically, I trust you with my life.” She whispered kissing him softly, those sweet kisses turned urgent as he roughly kissed her back.

He rolled them over onto the bed, pressing her back against the mattress. Ahri sucked his bottom lip betweeen her teeth tugging on it. He pinned her arms high above her head kissing down the side on her neck, tracing her pulsing jugular with his tongue making her shiver. She could feel his hard erection pressed against her thigh, he slid his hands down the length of her arms feather light and teasing. She wrapped her legs around his waist pulling him tighter against her, as his hand trailing down between the valley of her breasts slipping under her thin shirt. He cupped one full breast, feeling the softness of her skin grazed the pad of his thumb over her taut nipple. Ahri gasped arching her back, as he pinched her nipple rolling it between his thumb and forefinger.   
She thrust her hands in his long hair yanking his face back up to hers kissing him, as if only he could provide the oxygen she needed to survive. His fingers stroked down her stomach, stroking her hip. Curling his fingers in the waistband of her pants, he slowly slid them off her hips yanking them off her legs impatiently. They were tossed to the floor forgotten, Ahri let out a breathless moan at the first touch of his fingers down her slit. He groaned feeling how wet with desire she was, he found the soft bundle of nerves pressing down rubbing it in slow circles. Her fingers in his hair tightened panting against his mouth, he deepened the kiss. Her blood was molten, she felt like she would combust at any moment as he increased the pace of his fingers.   
Her moans got louder, grinding her hips against his hand. She felt pressure building low in her abdomen, her head spinning as it built and built.

“Orochimaru!” She cried out “Please I’m going to!” She begged as he covered her mouth, shoving his tongue against hers rubbing her clit faster. He shoved her shirt up exposing her breasts to him, leaving her mouth to kiss down her neck. Her cries of pleasure driving him mad, he pulled her nipple into his mouth softly biting the peak. The dual sensation of him stroking her and biting her was too much to bear, her orgasm exploded in a chorus of cries, as her entire body trembled. 

Ahri sat up on her knees pulling his face up to kiss her, he could feel her knees shaking against the bed and he grinned against her lips. He would do this to her every night if given the chance, he could never get tired of her cries of pleasure. He felt her hands slide down the front of his chest around his waist to unbind his purple obi, but as she had reached the knot what sounded like a large explosion rattled the ceiling. She pulled away from his mouth with a startled gasp as dirt sprayed from the ceiling. 

Orochimaru hissed pulling away from her springing off the mattress onto his feet. A dangerous flint reflected in his eyes. He yanked open the door and barked at her,

“Stay here. Do not leave this room!” Before running down the hallway out of sight. Ahri scrambled yanking her pants up, shutting the door with a slam. What the hell was happening? She had never seen his face so contorted with rage before, she never wanted to be on the receiving end of that look. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait, she sat back on the bed hugging his pillow.


	4. Reunion

Orochimaru ran down the hall, he wasn’t sure how they found his hideout but he wasn’t surprised. He knew for a while the Hidden Leaf village was snooping around, mostly searching for Sasuke. That blonde haired brat just refused to give up. 

“Sasuke!” He barked in the hall, not even five seconds passed and Sasuke appeared in front of him waiting for orders.

“Looks like your friends finally tracked you down. Go handle it. I’ll be in the lab making sure nothing is disturbed.” Orochimaru demanded, separating from him, Ahri should be fine as long as she obeyed his orders. He entered the room gazing around intently, the lab was just how he left it. Sasuke had grown over the past three years, he was confident he could handle the intruders with ease.

Sasuke was cunning, he knew the teams of Konoha couldn’t resist helping someone in need. By locking himself in his room, he would appear as a prisoner to catch them off guard. Laying in bed he faked sleep, biding his time until one of them came to ‘free’ him. 

***

A pale boy with emotionless features and dark eyes darted through the hallways of the hideout. He marveled at the structure of the underground fortress, on the outside to the untrained eye it would appear as a large mountain in the middle of nowhere. After some too easy convincing from Kabuto, he revealed the entrance and Sasuke's whereabouts without giving a precise location within the walls. As a member of the Anbu Black Ops, he had a specific mission to fulfill that went outside the instructions of the Fifth Hokage.   
He joined the newly formed Team Kakashi under the guise of a new member of the Hidden Leaf Village; although he wished to form deeper bonds with his new friends Naruto and Sakura, he couldn’t let those emotions get in the way of the task at hand. His mentor Danzo has specifically assigned him to this, and those who failed their missions suffered severe consequences. Yamato may be the leader of Team Kakashi, and he shuddered at the intense terror he inflicted in the three teenagers, but Yamato paled in comparison to the scary aura of Danzo.   
Sasuke was a traitor to the village and was deemed so dangerous he landed himself in the infamous Bingo book, which held a vast list of people to be assassinated. Sai felt as if he were going in circles, this fortress was a labyrinth and he was sure only those who frequented there could only find their way around with ease.   
Kneeling in a dark nook he thrust his hand in his bag pulling out a large scroll and Chakra infused ink saturated Xuan brushes. In one simultaneous fluid motion, he unraveled the scroll painting furiously on the parchment. With a flourish he lifted the brush off the page, and a hoard of small rats scattered to the floor darting all directions. Closing his eyes he quickly relayed to the rats to search every inch of the hideout to reveal Sasuke’s location to him.   
Placing the scroll back into his bag he took off with almost inhuman speed, yet his steps were featherlight so his shoes never made a sound against the stone. The rats revealed the locations of three people; Orochimaru, his primary target Sasuke and a girl not too much older than them. Due to the simple instructions given to the rat, he wasn’t sure if this woman was friend or foe and he didn’t intend to find out unless necessary.  
Arriving at the door, he silently opened it revealing a sleeping Sasuke on a small bed barely big enough to fit his talk form. With a cat like grace he approached him, and a mixture of emotions flooded him. Relief due to finally tracking him down after all this time, anger at him for what he’d put his new friends through and hesitation, killing him would mean hurting his new friends. He shoved those emotions back, sealing them behind a large mental block and shook him.

“Get up.” He whispered urgently, Sasuke slapped his hand away, his eyes flying open activating his Sharingan. 

“So you finally caught up to me. You’re a bigger fool than I thought if you think you can kill me.” Sasuke hissed with malicious amusement. 

Sai jumped back the moment Sasuke jumped out the bed out right, taking a defensive stance. Sai armed himself with a kunai in each hand, facing the old companion of his new friends.

“As much as I would like to watch the light fade from your eyes, it would upset Naruto and Sakura.” He spat his eyes watching Sasuke’s every movement in anticipation for an attack.

Sasuke’s responding laugh was unsettling, the glint in his eyes revealed a glimpse of mental instability.

“You’re no match for me. Not you, not Naruto, not Sakura. I’ll kill any of you who stand in my way.”

Sai’s eyes narrowed,

“How can you sit there and betray the bonds you once had with your friends?!” He shouted, launching himself at Sasuke.

“I have no need of bonds with anyone!” Sasuke shouted back, and before Sai could manage to land a blow a massive explosion erupted in the room. Sai was launched backwards and into the hall. The force of the blow knocking out the surrounding walls with a spray of crumbling rock. 

***

Ahri paced along the side of the bed growing more anxious with each passing minute. It’s been over an hour since Orochimaru left her. She hated being kept in the dark. Shouting voices from the next room over dragged her out of her thoughts, as the wall burst open flinging her against the wall on the opposition side of the room. The impact knocking the wind out of her, as her head smacked against the wall. She gasped for air, her vision blurred and ears rang. She pushed herself up off the floor, swaying unsteady on her feet leaning against the dresser.   
When the dust in the room settled, she caught a quick glimpse of Sasuke jumping into the hall. By then she heard other unfamiliar voices. She began walking towards the door with heavy footsteps, each step causing a sharp pain in her side. She cried out in pain gritting her teeth, confident she had several broken or fractured ribs. By the time she reached the door she was completely out of breath, she opened the door peering in the hall.   
She saw a pale dark haired boy running with a light pink haired girl chasing after Sasuke. She made her way out of the hall following their direction. Another explosion shaking the building, she leaned against the wall to steady her balance and continued moving forward. She approached a clearing hearing a mixture of voices. The her radiating pain made it hard to focus on what they were saying, she caught the tail end of the conversation. An older man with brown hair shouted at three kids around Sasuke’s age.

“I don’t want to hurt him in front of you but I will if it means protecting you!” His hands held in front of him, she knew he was about to activate some kind of jutsu. 

Ahri didn’t particularly care for Sasuke, but she knew he was important to Orochimaru. There was no way Sasuke could fight off all four of the Shinobi standing in front of him. 

“Leave him alone!” She gasped out staggering towards them weakly. 

A tall boy with short blonde hair and sky blue eyes turned to face her, he looked over at her confused taking in her injured state. 

“I’m here to bring home my friend, I would never hurt him.” He said defensively

“Stay out of this Ahri, it does not concern you.” He spat glaring at her with those eyes swimming with hatred.

“But Sasuke—“

“The only reason I haven’t killed you yet is because Orochimaru wants you alive, you’re annoying, shut your mouth and go back to his room.” Ahri closed her mouth, but stood her ground refusing to leave. Someone needed to be here to relay what happened in the instance Sasuke was taken.

She found it harder to keep track of their conversation due to her injuries, she was losing blood and the pain from her side made her dizzy. All she remembered was Sasuke declaring to kill the four of the newcomers before she started to blackout, she felt herself falling but didn’t have the strength to keep herself up right. Instead of hitting the stone floor she fell into the arms of Orochimaru, she looked up at him relieved as he scooped her up, cradling her against him. 

“Come Sasuke, we have the same mutual enemy. The Akatsuki, I would prefer you leave your friends alive.” Orochimaru commanded looking at Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato with a taunting grin. 

“Hold on a second! What do you think you’re doing with the girl? Is she another one of your sick experiments? Let her go, she doesn’t deserve to be tortured like the others.” Naruto demanded, he couldn’t leave anyone behind who was in danger.

Orochimaru froze, turning back to face him, holding Ahri close.

“She is not your concern. She is not my prisoner.” He said protectively turning her away from their prying eyes. Yamato looked between the two of them, and a blush crept up his face understanding her value to him. Without any further conversation Orochimaru disappeared out of sight, Sasuke turned to leave but stopped when Naruto called out to him.

“Come on Sasuke, come home please!”

“And why would I do that Naruto?”

“Because you're my brother and your friends want you to come home.” He pleaded desperately.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes “I severed those bonds a long time ago.” Without another word he took off after Orochimaru, leaving behind his childhood friend.

“Come on, let’s go.” Yamato sighed, wanting to get these kids out of here as soon as possible before any more harm came to them.

With heavy hearts the three of them followed Yamato out of the cavern, all they wanted was for Sasuke to come home but the hate he harbored for his older brother was too great for them to convince him to come back.

“Yamato-Sensei! Who do you think that woman was?” Naruto asked him. Yamato was quietly mulling over how to respond, being a rare survivor of Orochimaru’s experiments he knew his personality well. It was confusing to see him so overprotective of someone, especially because he was harsh on those he trained. His actions toward her were way out of character for a man like him, who only cared about his experiments.

“Well...I could be wrong, but If I were to assume I would say she is his lover.” He gulped not sure how to process the information, it was very strange to him. The three young Shinobi looked at each other with disgusted looking faces.

“But he’s so bleck and she’s so ahhh.” Naruto stuttered, the wheels in his mind turning over time to try and process the information.

“I know, but we need to inform Lady Hokage. This new information could either be very helpful to us, or provide another potential danger since we don’t know anything about her.” Yamato explained, without wasting anymore time they took off heading back towards their village.

***

Back in the lab Ahri laid on the cold metal table with her shirt lifted up to her chest. Large bruising covered the span of her rib cage on the left side of her body. Her breathing labored, trying not to make any noises of pain while Kabuto assessed the damage. 

“Ahri, how did you get yourself in this position? I specifically told you not to leave the room and you disobeyed me.” Orochimaru scolded her upset with her carelessness putting herself in harm's way. 

“Not now, it’s not what you think. We can talk about this later.” She snapped between clenched teeth, staying in the room didn’t make a difference since she was injured in their room. She was going to let him have it later though, she wasn’t a child and he wasn’t going to continue talking to her the way he has been.

Orochimaru was frustrated his arms went limp as soon as he laid her on the table, he wouldn’t even be able to carry her back to his room, he needed to figure out a way to get functionality of his arms back permanently. He silently cursed Hiruzen for inflicting this disability, it was hindering his research which pissed him off more.

“Okay, three of your ribs are broken and you have a mild concussion. I only have enough chakra to mend the breaks, and bring down the swelling of the brain. You may still be in pain afterwards, I will give you something for the pain.” Kabuto explained getting right to work, Ahri let him help her up off the table when he was done closing her eyes tightly, the soreness still prevalent like she was warned. 

“Come, we need to get you into bed to get some rest.” Orochimaru demanded coldly.

“As you wish LORD Orochimaru, but we’ll need a different room since yours is destroyed.” She huffed annoyed, how could a man who touched her with such care and passion earlier that day be so cold all of a sudden. 

They walked the rest of the way in silence, all she wanted to do was lay down and sleep the pain off. When they got to another room he looked over her as she tucked herself into the bed pulling the blankets around her closing her eyes.

“Ahri, you’re lucky you weren’t hurt worse than you are. You have no idea what those Shinobi were capable of.” He began lecturing her again.

“If you’re going to keep scolding me you can just leave. I did what you asked! The damn room exploded, you think I was just going to sit in there and take the chance of it happening again? No. “ Ahri snapped back at him.

“Even so now they know what you look like and are on their radar.” He retorted 

“Why are you speaking to me like I’m one of your subordinates? It was a freak accident just let it go. I’m in so much pain, I just want to sleep.” She whispered on the verge of tears. Orochimaru could hear the hurt in her voice and a wave of guilt washed over him. He was projecting his anger at himself on her which wasn’t fair, she had no ways of protecting herself he shouldn’t have left her unguarded. He climbed into the bed with her wishing he could touch her, but these damn arms.

He snuggled up closer to her placing his chin in her shoulder kissing her cheek a couple times. 

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” He whispered laying there with her quietly, Ahri didn’t respond. She was exhausted and in too much pain to keep up with the conversation. She closed her eyes praying sleep would take her soon so this awful day could be over. When Orochimaru was confident she was asleep he left the room, he needed to start having the mess cleaned up. He was really confused, he wasn’t used to having such irrational emotions. Now that the hideout was discovered, he needed to move fast with his plans to unlock Ahri's chakra flow so they could move on to one of his other hideouts. Before he could focus on that he needed to figure out a way to control his emotions, before it put her in more danger and sabotaged his years of relentless research.


	5. Out of Time

Things had been tense over the next two weeks, as everyone worked together to prepare to move to one of his other many hideouts. Ahri had just finished packing the rest of the salves when Orochimaru walked into the lab, but she pretended not to notice. It had taken a week and a half for her ribs to fully heal, and things between them had been weird. Some days he would be attentive and borderline smothering, and other days distant and cold. Frankly she was exhausted with his mood swings, he was worse than a teenager. 

“Is that the last of these?” He asked Ahri, placing his hand gently on the small of her back.

“Yep.” She answered passive aggressively moving away from his touch to quickly do one one scan of the shelves and checking the drawers of the lab tables. Confident everything was packed she went to pick up the box, but he had lifted it before she had a chance to grab it. 

“I’m more than capable of carrying a box Orochimaru, I’m no longer injured.” She sighed holding her arms out for the box.

“I’m already holding it. Besides, you’ve done enough for today, why don’t you go take a bath?” Ahri crossed her arms and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She had the strongest urge to punch him in the face out of frustration. 

“Fine. Have it your way LORD Orochimaru.” She spat sarcastically stomping out of the room. 

She may be acting a little too childish in response to his hot and cold demeanor, but she just didn’t understand why he was acting the way he was. They still had dinner together every night, and shared the same bed but she never knew which Orochimaru she was going to get until they interacted for the day. Some nights he had to be touching her in some way, whether it be his hand on her thigh or arm around her waist while they slept. Then other nights, he put as much space in between them as possible.   
Ahri finished filling the tub with hot water, swirling in the orange blossom scented oil Orochimaru had made for her. Peeling off her clothes and tossing them in a pile she slowly lowered herself in the water. Her body, still mostly sore from the injuries that were inflicted on her. Collateral damage, she snorted to herself quickly submerging completely in the water.   
She closed her eyes resting her head on the edge of the tub, Orochimaru consuming her thoughts. She wanted to get to the bottom of what was the cause for his inconsistent behavior. There was only so much more she could take before she snapped. She remembered the way he kissed her and how his hands and mouth felt on her body. He hadn’t touched her so passionately since that day.

“I don’t like that look on your face.” A soft voice spoke, Ahri opened her eyes meeting the dark gaze of Orochimaru. He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, watching her.

“What?” She asked confused, he walked over pulling one of the shower stools next to the tub sitting on it.

“I don’t like seeing this sad expression on your face.” He rephrased cupping her cheek, his thumb stroking her pouting lips.

“I just have a lot on my mind.” She closed her eyes leaning against his hand, all she wanted was for him to let her in. She hated being kept in the dark. He removed his hand, grabbing a cup on a shelf on the wall he started carefully pouring the hot water over her hair. Grabbing the orange scented shampoo he poured a generous amount in his hand, and began lathering the soap in her hair.   
His fingers massaged her scalp gently but firm, she could feel the muscles in her body start to relax as she focused on those fingers.   
“I’ve never seen hair this color before.” He whispered as he rinsed away the soap, she sat up in the tub and she stayed silent while he dried and combed her hair. With fluid fingers he wove a tight long braid, he watched as Ahri stood up his eyes following each drop of water that rolled down her curved body. He held out a towel for her, she stepped into it wrapping it around herself.   
Without another word she walked into the room Orochimaru was following behind her. She wasn’t the type of woman to sit around moping around, and frankly he needed to get over himself.  
“Ever since that day you’ve been acting strange. Some days you want to be close to me and other days you push me away. Your mood swings are giving me whiplash.” She said abruptly looking up at him, his features were unreadable. They stared each other down for several moments and a slow grin spread across his face accompanied by a chuckle.

“That mouth of yours still catches me off guard. If anyone else dared to speak to me like that I’d rip out their tongue.” He hiss flicking his tongue out at the side of his mouth like a snake.

“I have no need to fear death. It’s not like I have anyone left that would miss me if you decided to slaughter me right where I sit.” She huffed, turning her chin away from him in defiance. 

“I won’t ever let you get hurt like that again.” He promised kneeling in front of her.

“Orochimaru, don’t make promises you can’t keep! The only one who’s going to be let down is YOU.” She growled poking him hard in the chest. He looked up at her shocked, but she continued. “Besides! You didn’t cause that wall to explode, it was a freak accident. You thought I’d be safe, stop beating yourself up over it. I'm not upset with you. Well, not for being injured, what I am upset about is you being a douche lately.” 

His answering smirk at her rant made it hard to stay mad at him. The world seemed to find him formidable, yet to her he seemed like he just needed the right person to believe in him. 

“Okay, I will keep that in mind.” He whispered standing up, she watched as he began stripping off his shirt. Ahri’s face turned bright red and she gasped covering her eyes.

“Orochi- wha...what are you doing?” She squeaked out, peeking between her fingers. He was shirtless in a pair of white shorts, his lean body pale and smooth. She could see his long dark hair a vibrant contrast compared to his skin. He cackled loudly, taking her hands in his.

“I’m getting ready for bed, you’re more indecent than I am woman.” After the passionate moment they shared weeks prior he was surprised that him in only shorts made her blush.

“Oh right, we’re leaving tomorrow.” She chuckled nervously, she gazed at his arms curiously everyday he seemed to gain longer mobility. 

Orochimaru pulled her to her feet, taking that moment to embrace her. she felt soft under the thin towel and seemed to fit perfectly against him, as if she was created specifically for him. Ahri laid her head on his chest closing her eyes, the softness of his skin and steady beat of his heart was calming. 

Ahri pulled away from him, exhausted, and slipped on her pajamas before crawling into bed with Orochimaru. He blew out the candle on the nightstand, and pulled her close letting darkness consume them.

***

It took them close to three weeks to make it to one of the other hideouts he had set up. Ahri enjoyed every moment of the journey experiencing things she never had before being holed up in her small village, she loved the different food the most. She couldn’t tell if her traveling companions were impressed or disgusted by the amount of food she was able to put away, but she never gained any weight from it.   
When they approached the entrance to the new place, she watched as Kabuto placed his hand on a spot on the side of the dark mountain. She always found it strange how they just knew where to touch, but she had no way to tap into chakra so she assumed that was how they knew. The side of the mountain began to tremble as the rock seemed to slide to the side making a standard doorway. Her eyes widened with wonder when she saw the dark entryway lit up by glowing crystals of different colors scattered on the floor wall and ceiling in clusters.

“Oh wow…” Ahri said breathlessly, running from crystal to crystal touching each one she could reach. Orochimaru chuckled softly behind her,

“Your childlike wonder is always amusing.” Ahri looked up at him with a pouting glare, he kissed her forehead. They continued down the walkway and after five or so minutes of walking she began to see the glowing of torch light. 

“Kabuto, take an hour to yourself and then meet me in the lab.” Orochimaru ordered stopping at a large double door. 

“Yes, see you shortly.” He nodded his head continuing further down the hall.

Orochimaru swung open the doors to the room and Ahri could see how much bigger it was than the last one. She loved the darker stone compared to the light brown of the other one, and clusters of crystals glowed in the ceiling. She immediately kicked off her shoes and jumped into the bed, burying her face into the pillow. She closed her eyes and she sighed happily, her feet throbbing from how long they’d been walking.

“What do you think?” He asked sitting down next to her rubbing her back.

What do I think of what?” She questioned as her eyes grew heavy.

“The cavern? The room? I picked out this location with you in mind.”

“I love it, it’s beautiful.” She murmured beginning to snore softly, they didn’t have much time to rest afraid someone would recognize him. He could tell she was exhausted and so was he, but he didn’t have time to nap.

He covered her with a sheet and slipped out the door, heading to the new lab which was far larger than the other. Kabuto was working tirelessly like always, mixing different chemical solutions with the occasional glance at the scrolls sprawled on a table. 

“My Lord, are you prepared to begin tomorrow?” He asked never looking up from his work.

Orochimaru paused, he had done his best to stall for as long as he could but now he was out of excuses. He couldn’t risk losing her, but even more so he couldn’t risk his followers rebelling against him. If that were to happen his nefarious reputation would crumble at his feet, and with it his empire of experiments. He was grossly obsessed with forbidden jutsu, and he wouldn’t stop until his thirst for knowledge was satiated. 

“Absolutely, now that I'm confident we won’t have any more interruptions.” 

Kabuto looked up at him with an impish grin,  
“Welcome back My Lord.” He whispered beginning to gather the materials they’d need for tomorrow. Orochimaru sat at a desk watching him, while giving the occasional recommendations of what else to grab. He got sick enjoyment usually with the thought of experimenting on others, sometimes the most excruciating pain unlocked through most beautiful discoveries. One of his greatest accomplishments was unlocking the wood release jutsu in Yamato, he was a fine specimen and in a perverted way, he was proud of him like a father would be towards his son.   
Orochimaru grimaced, recounting all the screams and cries from the previous people he’d experimented on in the past. He wasn’t the slightest remorseful for the pain and suffering he inflicted on others, after all, it was in the name of science. She had been his mistress for so long, until he first laid eyes on Ahri. From the moment he saw those doe eyes stormy silver eyes he was hypnotized. There was something special about this girl that he didn’t understand, and his craving for unlocking secrets drove him to his obsession with her.   
Several days he would watch her from the shadows living her mundane life. He kept wondering what kind of secret jutsu she was hiding. He would follow behind her when she was wandering the forest alone, but all she ever did was forage for vegetation or play with the occasional animal. Observing her beauty and kindness was how he fell in love with her, even though they’d never spoken. When he made his choice to collect her, he tasked Kabuto with retrieving her. Now that he knew she had jutsu potential, he just needed to resolve the hardening of chakra in her body so she could control it.   
Now that he was going to experiment on her with Kabuto assisting, all he could picture was her face on all the people he’d experimented on. Using foreign chemicals and inflicting pain, he put the bodies under a series of stress tests to see how long they could withstand the process. A majority of them died, and the last thing he wanted was to watch the life drain from her eyes as she looked at him with an expression of betrayal. This time it had to be different, and he needed to take his time with this experiment.   
Like clockwork, the hand he had pinching the bridge of his nose fell limply into his lap. Orochimaru made a small frustrated hiss glaring at his useless appendages. Without even asking, Kabuto rushed over wrapping them in fresh bandages and placing them in a sling to keep them elevated.

“I guess this is my queue to turn in for the night.” Orochimaru laughed without humor, Kabuto nodded continuing his task as his master left the lab.

Orochimaru walked back to his room with leaden steps and heavy thoughts. She was about to be the victim of his newest experiment and it pained him. When the prey came toe to toe with the predator, would she still be able to see the man behind the monster?


	6. Roadblock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***Sorry this took so long I’ve been dealing with a lot in my personal life.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Orochimaru asked Ahri, leaning over her laying on an exam table. Ahri met his worried gaze reaching up to stroke her thumb over his cheek. 

“What a dull life I’d be living if I didn’t take risks,” she chuckled softly, “besides, you’re a genius. I trust you know what you’re doing.” She beamed up at him, her confidence relaxed him more. With Kabuto supporting him, I’m sure both their intellects combined there shouldn’t pose any danger to her. Orochimaru leaned forward, capturing her lips with his, she felt his dark hair fall around them as if to give them privacy.

He pulled away and nodded back at Kabuto, who set various instruments and tubes of different solutions on a tray moving it next to the table. He was familiar with the side effects that came with these injections, because the body viewed them as a foreign and potentially harmful substance, she could have a bad reaction if her body rejected them.

Ahri laid there, her heart pounding wildly. She hoped he could fix whatever was stopping her chakra from flowing freely inside of her, she would finally be able to learn some kind of jutsu. She made a silent promise to herself, that she would pledge her life and potential skills to his cause. She knew what he did was wrong when it came to unwilling participants, but maybe she could help change his mindset with how he went about these experiments. Consent is always important when it comes to life altering decisions, and everyone deserves a say in what happens to them.

Kabuto began assessing her overall health, Ahri closed her eyes as he took her vitals. The sensation from the medical-nin chakra wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. Her eyes closed and she felt it move inside of her, like a warm fuzzy ball moving featherlight with precision. 

“Okay everything looks good, I’ll start an IV drip on her to increase hydration.” Kabuto murmured to Orochimaru, she saw his answering nod. He was in full scientist mode, his entire demeanor was different. His eyes were focused as he filled several different syringes with different solutions. 

Ahri didn’t even realize Kabuto had stuck a needle in her until she felt the cold liquid entering her veins, she jumped in response. Kabuto raised and eyebrow at her, and she just shook her head.

“Sorry, the cold liquid just caught me by surprise.” She sighed embarrassed.

Kabuto untied the thin robe she wore opening it, they had seen many nude women over the course of their experimenting, but the thought of another man seeing Ahri naked infuriated Orochimaru so he made sure she wore undergarments. Kabuto made eye contact with Orochimaru who held several thin needles in his hands, the same kind of needles used when Kabuto performed acupuncture on him.

“Ahri, I need you to stay as still as possible. I’m going to simultaneously stick these in your seven chakra points. Any small movement can shift the needle and that could potentially put you in a dangerous situation. Do you understand?” Kabuto asked her his expression, the most serious she had ever seen. 

Ahri took a deep breath to calm her nerves and nodded trying to relax the muscles in her body. Kabuto very carefully placed the small sharp needles in her skin, he started low on her abdomen, with gentle precision. He then placed one below her bellybutton, the center of her chest, over her heart, in her throat, between her eyebrows and one in the crown of her head. Kabuto paused inspecting the needles making sure they were secure before rolling up his sleeves.

“This may take several sessions, and I may not be able to open every blocked point all at once. If at any time you feel overloaded, tell me immediately. The last thing we need is for your body to go into shock.” Kabuto instructed, Ahri nodded not quite understanding what he meant. Seeing her confusion Orochimaru elaborated.

“When a chakra point opens, you’ll feel a warm almost subtle vibration in the focus point. If a chakra point is opened too quickly, you could go into a-fib.” Ahri’s heart dropped and her heart rate increased as fear prickled along her skin, causing the hair on her arms to stand up.

“Relax my little hebi tsukai. We’re right here, just follow our instructions and everything will be fine.” He cooed stroking her hair. She knew the risks and she was so confident going into this, but why was she feeling so nervous all of a sudden? She took several deep calming breaths, and pictured herself relaxing and she felt the muscles in her body loosen.

“Good. Keep breathing deeply.” Kabuto murmured, activating the chakra in his hands surrounding the needles he had placed in her body, each needle glowed a dim blue. Kabuto could see the faint pools of chakra surrounding each point, but there was severe blockage in each preventing chakra from flowing out into the rest of her body. 

“This wasn’t a coincidence, this was intentional.” Orochimaru commented observing Ahri’s body alongside Kabuto. He nodded his mouth in a hard line, he had only seen a chakra solidifying jutsu done on one other person before and that person died before they could reverse it. Hopefully this time it would be different since she was so young.

“I’ll have to force each one open one at a time, in order to prevent her body from going into shock.” Kabuto was obviously frustrated.

“So how long will this take?” Ahri spoke finally her eyes darting between them.

“Maybe close to a month, depending how your body adjusts. We may need to space a couple days in between each chakra point to be safe.” Orochimaru mused rubbing his chin thoughtfully, it was in her best interest but he also knew he couldn’t afford to take that much time.

“Kabuto, open the first two chakra points.” He commended, without hesitation Kabuto placed his hands on either side of the needle closing his eyes.

“Wait butI thought you said it’d be dangerous!” Ahri panicked her heart thumping rapidly.

“My Lord…” Kabuto growled 

“Ahri, I need you to relax. The first two are the easiest, you’ll be fine I swear.” He reassured more harshly than he intended. Ahri closed her eyes, he was right. Besides she wanted this and if this was the way to do it then she’d do anything they asked.

Once her heart slowed to an acceptable rate Kabuto continued, he closed his eyes feeding his chakra into her. Slowly, he chipped away the hardened blockage on each flowing point. Whoever cast this on her, really did not want her being able to perform any kind of jutsu in her life. I’m sure her family expected her to live out her life in that poverty stricken village until she died. When Kabuto finally chipped away at the last remaining block of her root chakra point, what little was built up slowly began to trickle out.   
Ahri could feel the change as soon as the last blockage disappeared, it wasn’t a significant change but enough to notice. It felt like a light warm buzzing at the base of her spine down to her ankles, and she felt lighter than before. She looked up at Kabuto who had beads of sweat that slowly fell down the side of his face. He accepted the small hand towel Orochimaru handed him dabbing at the perspiration.  
She closed her eyes, the worst part was over, now that she knew what to expect the remaining process wouldn’t be terrifying to her anymore. Kabuto continued her next blocked chakra, repeating the same process. Pressing down on her lower abdomen, he activated his chakra again chipping away at the solidified blocks. This one took longer, once he received chakra return similar to blood return in an IV he stopped.   
His breathing slightly labored he wiped the sweat from his forehead removing the rest of the needles before allowing Orochimaru to help her up. Ahri didn’t really feel all that different, until she stood up. Her lower body felt lighter, which threw off her sense of balance. She grabbed Orochimaru’s shoulder to steady herself when she started to sway. 

“Normal side effect, you have to get used to your new weight.” Kabuto explained sanitizing and putting away the instruments he used. 

“How does unblocking chakra change my weight?” She asked confused, he chuckled at her question.

“The weight of your spirit, not your body.”

Ahri nodded understanding, feeling dumb for even asking. 

The next couple weeks were draining, as they continued to try to open the rest of her chakra points unsuccessfully. Tensions were high and all three of them were frustrated for different reasons.

“I’ll need some time to do more research on why the heart chakra won’t open, maybe try teaching her some meditation to help stimulate the chakra points already open. Hopefully that will make it easier to open when we try again.” Kabuto grunted, retreating to his desk to study more. 

Ahri stormed out of the lab with clenched fists, fighting to hold back her angry tears. She didn’t even glance to see if Orochimaru was following her. She was tired of being cooped up in this hideout, she felt herself start to hyperventilate and it felt as if the walls were closing in on her. 

“Ahri..” she heard someone say behind her, but in her panicked state she felt as if she was hearing underwater. Everything sounded muffled, and she could feel her blood rushing through her ears as her heart beat erratically. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, as her throat tightened. Ahri broke out into a full run wanting to get out of here, she needed fresh air. 

When she made her way outside into the fresh air, greedily sucking in lungfuls. She squat down in the grass leaning her head on her knees, cradling her head trying to will the panic attack away. What was wrong with her? Why was she so defective? All her life she had to watch as her peers developed different jutsu skills, while she never had any. She was bullied for that, and had a difficult time making friends, which was why nobody took her in when her father was killed.   
She kept seeing images of her childhood flashing through her mind, the narrowing eyes and laughter directed towards her. If Kabuto couldn’t open the rest of her chakra points, she would be useless to Orochimaru. What kind of sick joke was this? Pair her with one of the most powerful men in history only for her to be useless.  
Orochimaru saw how distressed she was, and his heart ached for her. He understood only a fraction of what she was going through, now that he had no chakra control in his arms. He kneeled in the grass beside her wrapping his arms around her small shaky form pulling her into his lap, she buried her face in the crook of his neck. He just sat there petting her hair, his scent enveloped her senses and he felt her breathing becoming more steady as she began to relax. 

“I know you’re frustrated. It’s okay, we’ll figure it out. Whatever is going through your mind, you’re not a failure.” He soothed, sliding his finger under her chin forcing her to look up at him. She nodded blinking back tears swimming in her bright eyes.

“I’m frustrated. I just want to be of use to you.” She whispered, playing with a lock of his hair that blew in the soft breeze. 

“Then you need to get your mind to align with your spirit, this divide you’re feeling could be making the process harder.” Orochimaru said sternly, moving her off his lap he sat facing her. 

“I’m going to walk you through some meditation exercises, close your eyes and do everything I say.”

Ahri closed her eyes, she cleared her mind of everything besides the sound of his voice. She focused on her breathing; she inhaled slowly for ten seconds, and then exhaled for ten seconds. She repeated his until every muscle in her body felt relaxed. 

“Good, very good. Focusing on your already open chakra points, from your bellybutton to the tips of your toes.” He whispered, meditating with her to better walk her through it.

Ahri then felt a soft buzzing circulating in her lower body, she had never felt anything like it. She gasped softly.

“You’re doing great, now focus on that circulating chakra, and picture trying to direct it up towards your closed chakra point. Imagine pushing it up towards your heart.” He explained moving his own chakra up through his body effortlessly.

Ahri focused hard on her chakra moving erratically inside her lower body, everytime it seemed like she began to guide it she lost her grip. This continued for several hours, and then she felt his hand on her knee.

“That’s enough for today.” Orochimaru whispered, wiping the sweat off her forehead. She didn’t even notice her labored breathing until he broke her concentration. 

They continued these exercises over the remaining week, with each passing day she improved more with her chakra control. 

“I think I’m ready to try again.” Ahri announced to Orochimaru during dinner. With a mouth full of food he continued to chew gazing at her thoughtfully, wiping his mouth he nodded. 

“Okay, I’ll let Kabuto know we can try again tomorrow.” He agreed, stacking the finished plates of food together on a tray he made his way to the door.

“No, I want to try right now.” She stated, sitting on the edge of their bed.

“Not tonight Ahri, we will try again tomorrow.” He said more firmly.

“But Orochimaru—“ 

“I said no!” He bellowed, cutting her off, Ahri winced at his voice. “You know I can’t use these arms for long, and I’ve almost reached my limit. If something happens to you I won’t be able to help.” He explained

“You have no chakra flow in your arms anyways! All you do is hold the fucking needles Orochimaru, so what’s the difference?” She demanded, she regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth seeing the fleeting hurt expression in his eyes. It didn’t last for long, because his dark eyes hardened.

“In case you have forgotten Ahri, I’m the boss around here. You have no idea the energy and focus that goes into these procedures. I am being cautious because I have killed many test subjects before by rushing experiments. Forgive me for not wanting to add you to that list.” He hissed vehemently before leaving the room, slamming the door loudly behind him. 

He made his way towards the kitchen angrily ignoring any of his followers who greeted him along the way. What was wrong with that girl? He’s risking everything for her, each passing day Sasuke is getting stronger and needs to hurry and perform the Living Corpse Jutsu before it’s too late. He could feel this body getting weaker. As if to affirm his thoughts his arms went limp sending the dishes crashing to the floor of the kitchen. Shards of glass shot in every direction, Orochimaru growled at his useless arms. Hiruzen was lucky he was already dead or Orochimaru would kill him again for what he did to his arms. 

“Is everything alright?” Kabuto asked, peeking into the kitchen at the mess. 

“Yes, find someone to clean up this mess.” He ordered

“Of course My Lord.” Kabuto nodded 

“Oh and Kabuto, we’ll resume opening Ahri’s chakra points tomorrow.” He stated, pushing past him out of the kitchen. 

When Orochimaru returned to his room, Ahri was already asleep, her back facing his side of the bed. She must still be upset with him, he thought, climbing into bed next to her. He just prayed tomorrow is the day they will be able to open to rest of her chakra points, so he could continue with his plans before they had more surprise visitors.


End file.
